Actor Tom Cruise, left, actress-choreographer Debbie Allen and production designer Wynn Thomas received honorary Oscars Nov. 16 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 16th Governors Awards. Honorary Oscars are given for lifetime achievement and exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences.
Courtesy photo
Wave Wire Services
HOLLYWOOD — Tom Cruise was among three recipients of honorary Oscars at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 16th Governors Awards Nov. 16, while Dolly Parton received the prestigious Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
“The cinema, it takes me around the world,” Cruise said at the invitation-only event at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood. “It helps me to appreciate and respect differences.
“It shows me also our shared humanity, how alike we are in so, so many ways. And no matter where we come from, in that theater, we laugh together, we feel together, we hope together, and that is the power of this art form. And that is why it matters, that is why it matters to me. So making films is not what I do, it is who I am.”
Cruise has never won an Oscar in competition. He has three nominations as an actor, two for actor in a leading role for “Born on the Fourth of July” and “Jerry Maguire” and one for actor in a supporting role for “Magnolia.”
Cruise received a nomination as a producer in 2023 when “Top Gun: Maverick” was nominated for best picture.
Parton, who was not at the awards ceremony, received the Hersholt Award in recognition of “her decades-long humanitarian efforts.”
Known more for her music career, Parton starred in “9 to 5” and “Steel Magnolias.”
“She has founded various charitable and philanthropic organizations, including the Dollywood Foundation, which was created in 1988 to inspire the children of East Tennessee — her home state — to achieve educational success,” according to a statement from the Academy.
“Additionally, her literacy program, ‘Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library,’ launched in 1995 in honor of her father, has provided children with 285 million books. It evolved into an international movement and remains the signature program of the Dollywood Foundation.”
The Hersholt Award is given “to an individual in the motion picture arts and sciences whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry by promoting human welfare and contributing to rectifying inequities.”
The other honorary Oscars were awarded to actress/choreographer Debbie Allen and production designer Wynn Thomas.
Allen, known for her performances in “Fame,” “Ragtime” and “Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling,” has choreographed seven Academy Awards ceremonies, and also worked on films such as “Forget Paris” and “The Six Triple Eight.”
Thomas began his production-design career on Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have it,” leading to future collaborations with Lee on “Do the Right Thing,” “Malcolm X” and “Da 5 Bloods.” He also worked on the Oscar-winning film “A Beautiful Mind,” “Cinderella Man” and “Hidden Figures.”
Honorary Oscars are presented “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences in any discipline, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”
